PewterReport.com’s Most Impressive: Buccaneers vs. Bears

The Bucs played a complete game to end their home-win drought and grab their fourth of the season, dominating the Bears 36-10 on Sunday to advance to 4-5.

Offensively, Tampa Bay gained 392 yards, while the defensive line was relentless in pressuring Bears’ quarterback Jay Cutler, who finished 14 of 28 for 147 yards and two picks. Capitalizing on the D-Line’s performance, the secondary intercepted two passes to go along with two sack-fumbles, the second of which counted for a safety.

Even the special teams got involved, as gunner Josh Robinson made two key stops, one on a kickoff in the second quarter and the other to down Chicago on the 2-yard line after a punt. Here’s the list of the Most Impressive players, according to PewterReport.com, Sunday.

QB JAMEIS WINSTON
Winston’s third-and-10 scramble-turned-39-yard completion to Mike Evans in the third quarter was only a highlight in an overall impressive outing from the Bucs 22-year old signal-caller. The scramble is already trending on social media and is possibly one of the best of the year in the NFL. Often under duress behind an injury-depleted offensive line, Winston still completed 23 of 33 passes for 312 yards and two touchdowns. Nine different receivers caught passes.

TE CAMERON BRATE
Winston was finding his go-to tight end early and often Sunday, as Brate caught all six targets in the first half for 70 yards and a touchdown. The third-year pro, who finished with seven receptions for a game-leading 84 yards, seemed to always find the soft spot over the middle. His chemistry with Winston was on full display Sunday.

S CHRIS CONTE
Conte drew first blood against his former team, reading a pass from Cutler to tight end Logan Paulsen and jumping the route for a clear path to the end zone. It was his first career pick-6, and one that set the tone on a day where rush and coverage was clicking for the Bucs’ defense. Conte also led the team in tackles, with seven.

DE ROBERT AYERS and DT GERALD MCCOY
Among one of the signature plays Sunday – and there were a lot from the entire team – was Robert Ayers’ sack-fumble-safety at the end of the third quarter. After Gerald McCoy burst through the middle and forced Cutler to escape, Ayers chased him down, swatted the ball and all but finished the Bears. That was the duo’s second time combining for a big play, as they both sacked Cutler on third-and-8 earlier in the third quarter. Ayers finished with six tackles, while McCoy, who lead blocked for Doug Martin’s late touchdown, added another three.

DEs WILL GHOLSTON and NOAH SPENCE
For as good as the Bears defensive line was Sunday, the Bucs were even better. Getting in on the forced-fumble action was Gholston and Spence. The former, on a never-say-die-play, came up from behind on running back Jordan Howard to punch the ball loose, while the latter knocked it away from Cutler in the red zone, possibly saving an early touchdown. Both plays were huge momentum shifts in the 36-10 rout.

CB BRENT GRIMES
On a day where the secondary played lights out and held Chicago to 182 yards passing, mostly off of one 50-yard Hail Mary, Grimes added another interception to his count. The veteran cornerback stepped in front of a slant pattern during the Bears second drive and hardly heard his name called thereafter, a good sign for a cornerback. He finished with two tackles.

GUNNER JOSH ROBINSON
Even without his fellow special teams ace, Russell Shepard (hip), Robinson still stood out as a play-making gunner. Along with taking down punt returner Eddie Royal on the 2-yard line, setting up an eventual safety in the third quarter, the UCF product also came flying in on a kickoff in the second quarter to stop Chicago at the 10-yard line.

About the author

Zach is entering his 3rd year covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a writer for PewterReport.com. Since 2014, he's handled a large part of the beat reporting responsibilities at PR, attending all media gatherings and publishing and promoting content daily. Zach is a native of Sarasota, FL, and a graduate of the University of Tampa. He has also covered high school football for the Tampa Tribune and the NFL for Pro Player Insiders.
Contact him at: [email protected]

23 Comments

Which Safety and CB was covering the middle in the first half when Plummer was throwing the 10-15 yard passes right up the middle and they were running up the middle before Coach Smith started putting more pressure on the QB. I was happy he decided to throw more to the sides after that and we got two interceptions. Yes Conte got an interception and a touchdown, but other than that I thought he played his usual basic average at best. I thought Hargreaves played a good solid game.

Everybody is a winner tonight, even Demar Dotson who was frankly……..turrible. But I want to single Winston out because he flashed what he can be. The scramble tonight was right out of the Farve improvisational playbook. He is not fast, but he is deceptively quick. He is so good at it that I don’t know why there are not more planned rollouts from which he can improvise and work his magic.

Here’s what we’re dealing with folks. Winston is the youngest QB in NFL history to throw for 40 TDs. Jameis Winston has scored a touchdown in every game he’s played in, including college and the NFL. That’s special!

We couldn’t have done wrong with either pick – both of them are franchise quarterbacks who are leading their offenses and generating good and very similar stats … and both of them have been, like nearly all second year quarterbacks, inconsistent at times too. Both quarterbacks will lead their teams to many years of winning seasons and playoff games, most likely championships too, eventually.

This game reminded me of the 1st Atlanta game. Just goes to show you how this team could look if they could get good pressure from the defensive line. Finally having McDonald, McCoy, Ayers and Spence together and you can see the results. If we had this line for the Rams game and the Raiders game, we just might be 6-3 right now instead of 4-5. But this also shows that we still have to have another good draft before this team can really be competitive. Pick up a good 2nd wide receiver in free agency and draft another defensive lineman, a safety and a corner back and maybe with another year of playing in the same system this team could win more than it loses next year and possibly make the playoffs.

But if you were a Bucs fan, you had to feel good about the last 3 quarters of this game. The offense was off in the 1st quarter but after that, Chicago never really looked like they could challenge. Actually looking back, it was the early penalties (again) that stopped the offense about as much as the Chicago defense.

Big test next week against the Chiefs on the road. Not expecting a win, but it would be nice to hang tight all game.

I think you are remiss, Zach, in not also handing out recognition of the contribution of Clinton McDonald. He is a quiet guy, hardly anybody pays attention to him. But when he finally made it back into the lineup next to Gerald McCoy, he anchored an interior line that made it possible for the rest of the defense to click. It is no accident that when McDonald is in the lineup, our D is much better.

Aside from being a big brick in our wall that he is, McDonald also got a sack yesterday.

Finally I enjoyed a home game this year. Weather was great too. I think we saw week one and today what the Bucs can be with the D line playing well and Martin back. Jameis had a great game. It was fun to watch. The Hail Mary at end of first half still irritates the hell out me though. Lol. 36-3 was the real score. Now we have D line back in intact now it looks like the O line will be the problem. Injuries have really sucked this year! Big test next week for sure. Stupid Chiefs made me lose my pool this week. Yes some of us old guys (48) play in pools still and not fantasy.

The team and Mr Winston played great and bucs qb may do things …although M.M. would have been a better choice since he has played without a #1 receiver or tight end this season and stats are about the same.

So Delani Walker is not a top tight end? The way the Titans are playing offense they don’t need a ” #1″ receiver. They have the 2nd best rushing attack in the NFL and those WR in Tennessee actually have speed. And I’m not even going to get started on the fact that there Oline is a lot better than ours or that there defense is a lot better than ours. Mariota has 133 more passing yards but he also played one more game. I liked both coming and I still like both I have no bias either way. But the bashing Winston gets is unreal. Having a good offense doesn’t require and #1 WR as long the scheme fits the players around you. Just ask the Patriots

Thank you for a fact based response to a ridiculous comment. I swear half the people that post on fan blogs don’t even watch the games. They just see stats and assume. John Robinson significantly upgraded the Titans roster in one offseason. Mariota’s numbers through 10 games are almost identical through 10 games of his rookie season, but the Titans are winning. Winston is doing fine. If we keep getting healthy, we might snag 3-4 more wins this year.